10 US Sitcoms Aussie Kids Grew Up With In The 80s

4. I Dream Of Jeannie

18 September 1965 €“ 26 May 1970. 5 seasons. 139 episodes It's the age-old story. Astronaut crashes to earth on remote desert island. Astronaut discovers bottle. Astronaut rubs bottle. Beautiful genie emerges from bottle in puff of pink-ish smoke. Larry Hagman is Florida-based US Air Force Captain and astronaut Tony Nelson. Barbara Eden is Jeannie, the genie. For five seasons Jeannie makes magic happen by crossing her arms and nodding at stuff while Eden maintained Jeannie's formal speech patterns by never once using a contraction. I Dream Of Jeannie's regular supporting cast is contained to Tony's best friend and fellow astronaut Roger Healey, Tony and Roger's boss Dr. Bellows and Dr. Bellows' wife. Other occasionally recurring characters include members of Jeannie's own family, most of whom are also played by Barbara Eden. Sitcoms built around the theme of something incongruous to its mundane surrounds - a talking horse, a family of horror movie characters, a witch or a genie - were common in the 60s and by virtue of its titular character there was always an element of fantasy present in I Dream Of Jeannie. Early storylines focused on the simultaneous adjustment of Jeannie and Tony to life with each other, while many storylines, particularly in the first season, were driven by Jeannie's lack of understanding of the world she'd become part of. In the show's final season Tony and Jeannie finally get married. The hook throughout the previous four seasons had been Tony's efforts to keep Jeannie a secret from the world, though over the years both Roger and Dr. Bellows become aware of her presence. From the moment they're engaged, somehow it suddenly becomes OK for Tony to 'introduce' Jeannie to the outside world, with the only remaining secret to maintain being Jeannie's special powers.